Prep Baseball: Byron wins 10-inning thriller to reach state

Monday

Jun 2, 2014 at 9:57 PMJun 2, 2014 at 9:57 PM

By Matt TrowbridgeRockford Register Star

MOLINE ­— Twice in the past three years, Byron was eliminated from the playoffs after leading by two runs going into the final inning. And now Sherrard forced extra innings with a couple of infield hits in the seventh inning of Monday’s Class 2A baseball supersectional.

“I don’t know what I did to the baseball gods,” Byron coach Ray Bielskis said.

He can’t complain. Not now. Because the baseball gods also gave him left-hander Nate Peterson and one of the great defenses in area baseball history. Together, they helped the Tigers outlast the Sherrard Tigers 3-2 in 10 innings. Byron will play in the state semifinals at 6 p.m. Friday at Dozer Park in Peoria.

“That was one of the best games I’ve ever been involved in,” Bielskis said. “And if anyone deserves it, we did. We’ve been there. This is for all of the other teams that should have been in this position.”

Byron (35-5) outhit Sherrard nine to six and committed one error to Sherrard’s five, yet couldn’t pull away. An infield single, a bunt single and two near-perfect sacrifice bunts helped Sherrard (24-5) erase a 2-1 lead and force extra innings.

“I am so glad we got battle-tested last year, because when they put a run up, we weren’t nervous, we weren’t intimidated,” said shortstop Tyler Nunez, who was 4-for-4 with a triple and two runs.

Nunez’s single to lead off the 10th finally knocked out Sherrard starter Mitch Smith, who struck out eight and allowed only one earned run in the first nine innings.

“He was dealing. He was dealing the whole game,” Peterson said. “He was a dog.”

So was Peterson (12-0). After catcher Jack Fleeger doubled in Nunez, Bielskis “wasn’t even thinking of taking Nate out. He could have gone two more innings.”

Ten was all Peterson needed. He struck out nine and got help from a defense that made five standout plays and now has only two errors in five playoff games. The best play was Fleeger picking Austin Hildebrand off second after his 350-foot RBI double off the wall to tie the game at 1-all in the fourth.

“That was ridiculous,” Peterson said. “He is always coming up with something clutch like that.”

Byron keeps making lots of clutch defensive plays like that. And needed every one Monday.

“Our defense was outstanding again,” Bielskis said. “If we’re not going to hit, I’ll put our defense pitching up against any team in the state.”